Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Highland Scotland fan buys £500 ‘banger’ to transport him to Euro 2024 in Germany

The football-mad man from Sutherland plans to give the car a Scottish makeover.

Scott Miller beside Volvo S40.
Scotland fan Scott Miller with the Volvo that he will drive to Euro 2024 in Germany. Image: Scott Miller.

An avid member of the Tartan Army from the Highlands has bought a “banger” to drive to Germany to follow Scotland at Euro 2024.

33-year-old Scott Miller, from Brora, has been following the Scotland team across the world since he went to Germany for a Euro 2016 qualifier in Dortmund in September 2014.

Despite a 2-1 defeat to the then world champions, a memorable goal from former Scotland midfielder Ikechi Anya made Mr Miller “fall in love” with following the national team abroad.

After Scotland qualified for next year’s European Championships – which included a famous 2-0 March win against Spain at Hampden – he was determined that he would travel to Scotland’s first tournament abroad since the 1998 World Cup in France.

However, rather than booking flights like most of the Tartan Army, Mr Miller set himself a challenge, to buy an old car – a “banger” – with a cost of less than £500.

Scott Miller standing up and wearing a kilt.
Scott Miller travels the world to watch Scotland and is seen here in the Georgian capital Tbilisi. Image: Scott Miller.

He bought a 25-year-old Volvo S40 from a woman in Inverness online and despite it needing some things done for it to pass its MOT, as well as having 125,000 miles on the clock, this was no problem for the trained mechanic.

“I want to keep the whole thing as cheap as possible and do it on a budget. It just makes it a bit more fun,” he said.

He will be travelling to Deutschland with his friend and co-driver Terry Stirling, with this being the 54-year-old’s first trip outside of Scotland.

The crane operator, who is in the process of getting passport, is described as being “nervous and very apprehensive” about the adventure, and despite having no tickets to the games, will enjoy them at a fan zone.

Terry Stirling.
Terry Stirling’s voyage to Germany will be his first time out of Scotland. Image: Scott Miller.

Mr Miller plans to give the car a “very Scottish makeover” as they gear up to drive to Germany next summer.

He is currently “putting the feelers out” and hopes to get vinyl wrapping on the motor, paintwork done and companies to sponsor it.

“I’ll put your name on the car if you can do it at a cut price for me,” the rigger who works in Nigg said.

Despite going to Euro 2020 – which was held a year later in 2021 due to Covid-19 – he said it “wasn’t really the same” due to this, but also the fact that it was hosted by 11 countries across Europe for the tournament’s 60th anniversary.

‘Nightmare’ getting tickets

Mr Miller was at Scotland’s opening match of the tournament – a 2-0 defeat to the Czech Republic in Glasgow – as well as the spirited 0-0 draw against England at Wembley.

“For the England one, I was one point short of getting a ticket, so I phoned up and said I had injured my leg and I got an accessible ticket.

“So I managed to blag my way in and I got a wheelchair, and I got pushed into the game because there was heaps of tickets spare,” he told The P&J.

This will not be happening this time though, as he has already secured tickets for all of Scotland’s group stage matches, despite having a “nightmare” getting them due to issues with access codes and being a nightshift worker.

Scotland men's teams celebrate during a Euro 2024 qualifying match against Spain at Hampden.
The Tartan Army will be hoping for moments like this at Euro 2024. Image: Darrell Benns/DC Thomson.

The Sutherland man will be in the stands for the tournament‘s opening match against Germany in Munich on June 14.

“For some of us this is a dream come true, getting to witness Scotland opening a Euro Championships,” he said.

The pair will be based between Cologne and Dusseldorf for the tournament and Mr Miller plans to take the train to the opening game, before driving to Cologne to see Scotland’s match against Switzerland on June 19.

They are also planning on driving to Stuttgart for the Tartan Army’s final group match against Hungary on June 23.

Quarter or semi-final prediction for Scotland

However, they will hope that the Scotland’s journey does not end there, and Mr Miller is quite “optimistic”, booking accommodation for a month.

It will not just be the Highland duo that are in the Volvo S40 heading to the continent in the summer though, as the two other seats in the car will be put up for sale, including cabin tickets on the near 16-hour ferry between Newcastle and Amsterdam.

When asked how he thinks Steve Clarke’s men will do at the Euros, Mr Miller said that “something in my heart” thinks the team will advance past the group stage.

He added: “It’s going to be tough, but I think we can go to the quarters or semis. Wales did it and Wales did it with a far poorer team than us.”

Conversation